Evaluating Language Assessments [Paperback]

Evaluating Language Assessments offers a comprehensive overview of the theoretical bases and research methodologies for the evaluation of language assessments and demonstrates the importance of a fuller understanding of this widely used evaluative tool. The volume explores language assessment evaluation in its wider political, economic, social, legal, and ethical contexts while also illustrating quantitative and qualitative methods through discussions of key research studies. Suitable for students in applied linguistics, second language acquisition and language assessment and education, this book makes the case for a clear and rigorous understanding of the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of language assessment evaluation in order to achieve fair assessments and just institutions.

Chapter 1 Language assessments: The need for evaluation

Chapter 2 Past frameworks and evaluations

Chapter 3 Ethics-based approach to assessment evaluation

Chapter 4 Building the Fairness and Justice Argument

Chapter 5 Opportunity-to-Learn

Chapter 6 Meaningfulness

Chapter 7 Absence of Bias

Chapter 8 Washback and Consequences

Chapter 9 Advancing fairness and justice

Chapter 10 Applications and implications

Kunnans thoughtfully-grounded principles and wide-ranging illustrative examples will quickly becomeand long endure asthe landmark reference for all discussions of fairness and justice in language testing. The book establishes an innovative, rigorous, and thorough conceptual framework to evaluate the actual uses of language assessments in society.
Alister Cumming, University of Toronto, Canada, and Beijing Foreign Studies University, China

Fairness and justice, the two important qualities of any assessment and assessment practice, seem to be suspect in most if l£5